Delta Sigma Theta/Pomona Valley Alumnae Chapter members say the sorority’s Black Culture Festival encompasses all its concepts about service, community and cultural awareness.

“Our major focus is service and community, so we do things to enrich and enhance the community,” said chapter president Gloria Kilgore of Rialto.

On Saturday, the 31st annual festival starting at noon in the Pomona Civic Center Plaza offers features which meet the black Greek organization’s national five-point thrust addressing physical and mental health, education, international awareness and involvement, economic development and political involvement, Kilgore said.

Festival co-founders Alexis Dotson of Upland and Helen Witt of Ontario, chapter chaplain Adrienne Clay of Montclair and Kilgore recently discussed the highlights of the Inland Valley’s oldest public Black History Month program. The event is free and open to the public.

Poetry presentations, praise dancers and choral ensembles embrace culture. Conversations with members of the Buffalo Soldiers organization and original Tuskegee Airmen allow youth and adults opportunities to hear about the historically significant contributions by these pioneering groups.

Volunteers from community organizations and agencies will distribute information about resources and services. Western University of Health Services medical students and physicians will conduct wellness screenings. Archivist and cultural collector Farrell J. Chiles of Pomona will present historical pioneers – including Frederick Douglass, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks and Barack Obama – in an exhibition of black memorabilia and culture.

Teenagers will take part in a Black History Bowl, a competition modeled on academic decathlons.

“We want young people to have an appreciation for what we’ve contributed to America and the world because it enhances their self-esteem and gives them hope. The bowl’s educational format informs people of all races,” said Dotson, a retired children’s protective services socialworker.

Young children will enjoy displays, interactive activities, games, movies and storytelling. Dr. James Benson, a professional jazz saxophonist and retired Palomares Middle School teacher who has played at all 31 festivals, returns with his Gow Dow Experience, an aggregation of professional and community musicians.

Sculptor Cynthia Wierschen of Pomona is the festival’s showcase artist. She will do art projects on site and be among artists exhibiting and selling their work.

Witt, a retired dietitian, and Dotson respectively moved from Ohio and Indiana to Pomona in the 1970s. Black cultural festivals in Chicago and Cincinnati left favorable footprints on their memories, they said.

“The Chicago festival was simply fabulous,” Dotson recalled. “It lasted a week and featured jazz ensembles, high school choirs, black inventions and art displays, teen activities, just everything that had to do with black culture and history.”

Witt experienced similar emotions about the Cincinnati festival.

“We wanted the recently organized Delta chapter to be recognized as a force in the Pomona Valley and to stage a public event that was culturally and educationally informative,” Witt said.

“There were only 21 of us sorors in the new chapter, but we all worked hard to bring together current and historical examples of black culture,” Witt said.

The event was held at Cal Poly Pomona for two years. By its third year, it had outgrown the space at the college and moved to the Pomona Civic Center Plaza with the support of then-city librarian Halbert Watson.

The festival is not just for black people, said financial management consultant Kilgore and Clay, a special education teacher.

“Black history is American and world history,” Clay noted. “This festival gives us the chance to educate and inform people from diverse backgrounds.”

Clay cited other Delta community programs dedicated to service, empowerment and education.

The Delta’s LINC – Leaders Interacting for the Nourishment of Our Community – honors academically gifted children maintaining a 3.0 or higher grade-point average and presents a traveling plaque to the school with the highest number of black scholars. Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga won the plaque in 2009.

The service sorority’s Betty Shabazz/Delta Academy partners adult female mentors with girls age 11 to 14 to address topics ranging from etiquette and proper dress to college preparation and self-esteem. Academy mentors also deal with social development, literacy, community service and public speaking and take the girls on field trips to colleges, museums, concerts and plays.

“We are role models for them,” Clay said. “The best way to teach young people is by example.”

Kilgore admitted the sorority likes acronyms with meaning.

Nationally, the Science and Everyday Experiences program, commonly called SEE, exposes girls to math, science and engineering. Leadership development, career options, financial and social responsibilities and goal-setting are the focuses of GEMS, Growing and Empowering Myself Personally.

Boys are mentored in EMBODI – Empowering Males to Build Opportunities for Developing Independence – which has the same emphasis as GEMS.

The sorority also gives college scholarships to graduating high school seniors.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.